Pefect Time For A Waterfall Hike

Today's weather was perfect for hiking to area waterfalls. This time of year offers clear viewing of the cascading water while temperatures are comfortable, but have not warmed to levels that encourage a lot of insect activity. A couple of smaller falls were visited in Marion County before heading up to Foster Falls and a few other waterfalls in Grundy County. Hats off to everyone who has worked to improve the facilities at Foster Falls. The overlook boardwalk is outstanding and makes this impressive set of falls easily accessible to everyone. It has been a few years since my last visit to this fantastic area, so I was pleasantly surprised by the new additions. Many other people had the same idea to visit and we noted license plates from several other states in the lot. One couple commented about visiting Foster Falls this past summer and as I learned visiting Savage Gulf, the drought turned the falls completely OFF! Thanks to recent rainfall every waterfall was roaring today. Let's hope the rainfall is more steady the rest of spring and into summer.

Kayakers On Suck Creek

These shots were taken on Saturday March 8th, 2008. At the time these guys were shooting the rapids on Suck Creek, light snow was falling. If you look closely, you'll see some whiteness to the ground in the pictures. I'm guessing the water temperature was in the 40s, but it may have been colder than than. When asked the kayakers merely said, "It's cold." I'm told they were attempting to set a record for the most vertical feet kayaked in a single day. The record is somewhere around one mile, they were going to the top of Suck Creek and paddling down to near the Tennessee River which is a drop of 900 feet. The trip down takes about 20 minutes to complete. Then they would load the kayaks in a small truck for the trip back to the top. They began their quest for the record shortly after sunrise. I don't know if they made it or not. Certainly it would be a challenging record to achieve under these weather conditions. The water looked very blue and I liked the bright kayak colors against the snowy background.